How the overlooked Falcons defense found a winning formula

The high-powered Atlanta Falcons offense has been the main story this season. It’s historically good, scoring a league-best average of 33.8 points per game in the regular season. However, expectations surrounding Atlanta’s young, inexperienced defense were low heading into Saturday’s divisional win over the Seattle Seahawks.

So much for expectations. The Falcons defense held the Seahawks to just 20 points in what was the first playoff game for seven of their 11 defensive starters. And they did it with a familiar formula.

From the moment head coach Dan Quinn arrived in Atlanta, he has stressed two things — playing fast and playing physical. On defense, with young players, those two attributes can make up for inexperience. For the Falcons, it’s working.

The young defense needed to do just enough to limit an opponent’s scoring. Atlanta bent but didn’t break against the Seahawks. The Falcons gave up a handful of big plays — the Seahawks had just three plays of 20 yards or more — but kept Seattle out of the end zone outside of the first drive of the game and a fourth-quarter last-ditch effort at a comeback by Russell Wilson.

The Falcons have developed short memories, which helps players recover after big plays. It’s been a long road for Atlanta’s young defense to get to an NFC Championship bid, but it’s learned how to mask its deficiencies.

Giving up a touchdown on the first drive of a game can set the tone and put a defense’s back against the wall. The Falcons didn’t allow that to happen on Saturday against the Seahawks.

Rookie strong safety Keanu Neal said the way the defense rebounded after that drive illustrates the unit’s cohesiveness.

“We are growing. We’re young but we are starting to mold together as a unit and it showed today,” Neal said. “They drove and scored on the first drive but after that, we buckled down and really handled business.”

Veteran defensive end Dwight Freeney said it does help that the Falcons offense can essentially score at will.

“I don’t care if it was a 95-yard drive, or if it was an 80-yard drive, or if it was a 60-yard drive. It doesn’t matter,” Freeney said. “It was a drive that scored points. We’re just looking like, we need to stop these guys, and if we don’t stop them defensively, all right, look. Offense, please score so we get a chance to redeem ourselves.”

Linebacker Paul Worrilow noted the young players’ resiliency and ability to move past lapses.

“All those young guys, that’s just staying in the moment, not stressing, just reset,” Worrilow said. “What have we got coming up? What call we got? Go out there and execute it. Just watching that, that’s good ball right there.”

Playing fast and being physical enables the Falcons to do two things — pressure opposing quarterbacks and create turnovers. That happened Saturday. The Falcons sacked Wilson three times in Saturday’s win and came away with two key fourth quarter interceptions.

One of those picks was by free safety Ricardo Allen, who said after the game that the defense was prepared for Seattle to try to take advantage of it underneath.

“We go out there, and we are going to make you pay,” Allen said. “If they didn’t want to test us deep and they wanted to throw it under, we are going to come out and make you pay.”

The other interception came with just two and a half minutes in the game. Seahawks tight end Luke Wilson bobbled a ball and rookie linebacker Deion Jones snatched it out of the air. It was a good example of a young player keeping his head in the game.

“I saw Jalen (Collins) and De’Vondre (Campbell) make a good play on the ball,” Jones said. “I was really just trying to get over there and help out with the tackle. The ball was still up, and I just knew that I had to grab it before anyone else got there.”

That focus has been an emphasis of Quinn’s all season, and this week was no different. Freeney said the team’s concentration on the weekly process and preparation has kept this moment from being too big for the Falcons’ young defenders.

“And when you do it that way, then when you get to Sunday, or Saturday, then it kind of takes care of itself because the work is done during the week, and you’re not just showing up on Saturday or Sunday and just expecting these guys to go ahead and perform,” Freeney said. “The work has been done all week. It’s been done all regular season. It’s been done from the preseason.

“It’s been done from the moment they stepped in here. They’ve been doing a great job.”

With the NFC Championship looming, it’s particularly important for Atlanta’s young players to continue to focus on the next challenge ahead of them.

Allen said the team isn’t even thinking about being just one win away from a Super Bowl.

“We just think about it as, we have another game,” Allen said. “We’re on to the next, and now we’ll focus on us and whoever we’re playing next.”

Freeney noted how cohesive the Falcons have become on defense and said it’s happening at the perfect time for Atlanta.

“They’re hitting their stride at the right time, and we’ve got to win one more, then after that, win one more,” Freeney said.

The Falcons will face either the Dallas Cowboys or the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship, and both teams present unique challenges for Atlanta’s young defenders.

With the Cowboys, it’s a stout defensive line and Ezekiel Elliott’s ability to create huge, game-changing plays on the ground. For Green Bay, it’s Aaron Rodgers’ tendency to elevate the talent around him and carve up defenses — more consistent, experienced defenses than Atlanta’s — at will.

But what the Falcons defense showed on Saturday against the Seahawks is that it can do enough to get a win. Everyone knows what Atlanta’s offense is capable of, and if the Falcons defense can continue to just do enough, this team may be unstoppable.